Intensive discussions are underway at the National Public Diplomacy Directorate, the Foreign Ministry, and the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit to formulate a broad public diplomacy campaign against the libelous NAZA documentary, which won the Jury Prize at the closing ceremony of the 83rd Venice Film Festival, Ynet reported.
The campaign will be conducted across all platforms, with an emphasis on digital channels.
“We’re deep into this,” senior public diplomacy officials explained after the IDF issued a response to one of the scenes in the film. “The point is that, ultimately, in Israel’s democracy there are people who lie, distort, and do everything possible to create a portrayal that is the opposite of reality. There is no genocide in Gaza, and anyone who claims otherwise is either lying or has no idea what genocide is.”
The film not only completely ignored the October 7 massacre but also ignores the IDF’s extensive efforts to minimize harm to civilians during the war in Gaza. In 2024, Newsweek published a report by John Spencer, the chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute (MWI) at West Point, who emphasized that “Israel has taken more measures to avoid needless civilian harm than virtually any other nation that’s fought an urban war.”
The officials explained: “The entire concept of ‘collateral damage’ is about how to reduce harm—the opposite of Hamas terrorists, who seek to kill as many civilians, women, elderly people, and children as possible, and do so while using the population as human shields. Despite all of this, the IDF tries to reduce and minimize harm to uninvolved civilians as much as possible.”
“This film contains blatant lies, such as the reference to the 500 civilians,” they added. “The IDF issued a denial. We asked the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit to release as many official responses as possible. The Foreign Ministry will also publish content. Everything is being coordinated among all the relevant bodies. The bottom line is that we’re deep into this, and efforts are already beginning to fend off and refute the lies.”
Israeli diplomats are warning of the film’s repercussions, particularly because its Israeli creators and the purported testimony of IDF soldiers who served in Gaza make it more difficult to dismiss its claims as hostile media propaganda.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
